


Perfection (Or Something Close To It)

by d0g-bless (d0gbless)



Series: A New Breed of Training [19]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Babies, Body Image, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Everyone Is An Adult, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kid Fic, Post-Canon, Post-Series, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25996036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d0gbless/pseuds/d0g-bless
Summary: Some days are worse than others when it comes to how Shiro feels about himself, his body, his scars. He's considered medical procedures and has tried concealers and other scar-lightening or erasing cosmetic products, all to no avail. But lately, he's beginning to realize there's a lot of him worth loving.A lot more, thanks to his wife and their daughter.
Relationships: Pidge | Katie Holt/Shiro
Series: A New Breed of Training [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/819957
Comments: 17
Kudos: 22





	Perfection (Or Something Close To It)

**Author's Note:**

> I LIVE AND I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT THESE BABIES AND THEIR BABY

Some days are worse than others when it comes to how Shiro feels about his overall appearance. Before being captured by the Galra who tossed him in a pit to kill, maim, slaughter, he _knew_ he wasn't a bad-looking guy. Just the opposite, in fact. He took pride in his chiseled jawline, his hair , and how his muscles flexed and strained the sleeves of his shirts with a mere twitch — everything, really. It was no wonder Adam had fallen for him, shallow as it sounds. Even though at one point his muscles weren't going to last forever, he took the time to enjoy them while he still could.

Keeping those muscles, sadly, came at a steep price: scars upon scars upon scars, marking up every inch of his skin (as long as you're not counting his crippling PTSD and other severe mental health issues). Maybe that's a little overdramatic, but it doesn't change how he feels about himself, his body.

Shiro has considered undergoing medical procedures to make the scars look better: laser removal, skin grafts, plastic surgery, cryotherapy, steroid injections, silicone sheets… just about anything, really, that wasn't some sort of snake oil thing recommended by a less-than-certified doctor or at least a medical professional who really should have their license provoked. When going over these options with his wife, Shiro decided that it was best not to undergo these procedures. Doctor's offices made him more than nervous, and just the very mention of lasers and injections were enough to make his heart race and palms sweat worse than Pidge in the hottest weather. Not worth it.

He's tried getting into into cosmetic products: concealers, facial peels, creams, aloe vera, whatever else he can find at the local drugstore. And they worked, or at least Pidge said they looked good. But wearing concealer every day led to breakouts and peels dried his skin too much and creams made his skin look too oily.

So his battle scars are here to stay, as is the lack of confidence in his appearance. He wonders why Pidge has stuck with him at all, she deserves someone as beautiful as she is, not this twisted, disfigured man. She could do so much better than him, so why? Why did she choose him of all people? It doesn't make sense to him. She should leave him, be with someone better.

And yet, Pidge stays. The way she looks at him makes him feel a rise in confidence he really shouldn't have. She calls him "handsome" and says outlandish things, like how he's way out of her league and that _she_ isn't worthy of him. It's ridiculous, really, all she has to do is look in the mirror to see just how gorgeous, how stunning, how fucking incredible she is, and it almost makes him angry to hear her talk that way about herself. No, not almost. It does.

Maybe he understands where she's coming from, just a little bit, even though he thinks she's wrong.

But lately, there have been more and more days where he's starting to think Pidge may be on to something there. On the days where Pidge is at work, and it's just him, his daughter, and the family dog, he feels comfortable enough to take his shirt off. Granted, Sammy's nearing nine months old and doesn't really understand what scars are, but she's never shied away from him, not ever. In fact, Sammy gravitates toward him more often than not, now that she's finally crawling. She smiles at him all the time, too, with her toothless Holt smile, dimples and all.

The first time she smiled at him, truly smiled _at_ him, he cried. For so long, he worried that she'd look at him and cry and scream and be deathly afraid of him. But she's not. She _adores_ him, and Pidge points it out constantly, like during tonight's dinner. Chinese takeout for the grown-ups, some fancy grain-free food for Halley, and pureed baby food for Sammy. He pulls a silly face that gets Sammy to smile, mouth wide open and ready for a spoon of pear-flavored goop to land on her tongue.

Much to Shiro's delight, she swallows it and reaches for the spoon. She wants more.

"I can't believe you got her to eat that one!" Pidge says. "She refuses to eat any green-colored baby foods, I swear! Well, with the exception of pureed peas."

Peas. Of course. Shiro snorts around his fork-full of chicken lo mein. "She really is a Holt. No need to sue the hospital due to a mix-up." He stops to take in the way Pidge looks at him, her cheek pressed into a half-formed fist with a lovestruck smile. "What?"

"Oh, nothing."

Bullshit. "You're _always_ thinking about something. Come on, what is it?"

She takes a swig of seltzer water. "Thinking about how handsome you are and how stupidly _hot_ it is to watch you be such a dork. Seriously, though, I never thought I'd want to come home to a partner who encourages our baby to do 'tummy time' by doing push-ups across from her. And here we are."

"Excuse you, we were strengthening our cores, weren't we, Sammy?"

Pidge rolls her eyes, but she's still smiling, big and bright as ever. "Next thing you know, I'm going to be hearing about how you're also—"

"—Working on object permanence," he finishes for her.

"You really are perfect, you know that?"

Before Sammy was born, Shiro would have been more inclined to argue over his physical perfection or any kind of perfection at all. He's a deeply, deeply flawed and scarred person with a lot of emotional baggage. But now? He's starting to realize there's a lot of him worth loving, a lot more. Even the parts he's not as proud of or wants to hide. He's worthy of her, of Pidge, of Sammy.

"Yeah. I do."

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
>   * <3 as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author replies to comments.
> 
> Also, you can find me on on Twitter [@d0gbless](https://twitter.com/d0gbless)! Feel free to follow and hmu there anytime and ask me anything about shidge. My DMs are always open!


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